The European Union’s new Commission Regulation 2016/1119, which takes effect from 1^st July, 2018, formally recognises the safety benefits of Health and Usage Monitoring Systems (HUMS) by requiring European operators to install approved equipment and adopt approved procedures for using it. These specific requirements take effect from 1^st January, 2019.

In fact, many operators are already using HUMS and experts from HeliOffshore member companies have developed HUMS Best Practice Guidelines and Implementation Guide to help the technology to be implemented as effectively as possible. The guidelines, which have been updated since first introduced, are available to download from the Resources page of HeliOffshore.org. HeliOffshore encourages operators to study these guidelines and consider how they could constructively be incorporated into their operations.

The main safety benefits of sensor-based HUMS technology stem from the actionable information that the systems generate about the health and performance of mission critical components in helicopters. This allows maintainers to make data-informed decision about the work that is required to ensure aircraft operate safely. HUMS are increasingly effective in providing additional data on emerging technical issues and, with the development of advanced detection systems, the accuracy and predictability of HUMS continues to improve.